Morning journal and courier., 1887-05-21
Woman and LaWn-Tennfs.

There IS no doubt that Of late years physl- cal culture has received we'll merited atten- tion and has made welcome progress Va. rious athletic diets, with all manner of meth ods for developing muscle, are daily growing into science. Wisely exercised and therefore healthy bodies best support expansive brains; an exaggerated bieeps determinedly swelling on the arm of male student may not un- naturally be expected to accompany thinking power proportionally educated and enlarged; prominence in play on the campus may to seme extent be said to promise-as in meas -ure it makes possible-excellence in the work of the recitation room. Hard working plays and plenty of them for our university boys are not objected to by anyone, while all agree that the masculine brain worker needs exactly such relaxation, and that it is admir- able and wholly desirable for him.
 And for the feminine brain worker? Is it not also and equally desirable for hers
 That is precisely the question. at issue which is not yet settled, and if friendly warnings from those whose profession it is to be informed on this point are to have value, or to receive the attention which they cer- tainly deserve, science must pronounce an opinion and put an end to existing discus sion. The reply to this question deeply in- terests the heads of all households and is of an importance not easy to overssate. When, for instance, the medical man interrupts out door games for girls with especial discour- agement laid on skating and swimming, his objections are met by traditions of the Hol- land woman of all classes with her ever ready and always useful skates, and by those of the South Sea Island mother, who enjoys play with the shark and kills him in person al encounter in his native element, as we'll as by remonstrances from no small nor incon- siderable muster of healthy girls, whose habit it is to ride and swim, play tennis in sum mer and skate in winter, and who are un- mistakably strengthened by such wholesome amusements. It is evident and beyond a doubt that these same girls, by means of at fractions thus gained, find themselves ruddy and tireless and strong; and that thus they radiate fascinations to a degree that man, dazzled, becomes as wax in their hands. It must always seem contrary to nature, and not to be allowed by common sense, to be- lieve and admit that strength ot muscle, con- trol of nerve and wiry endurance of exer- tion, each and all qualities gained from life in the open air, are not helpful in the hour of child birth, as at every other hour of wo- mans existence, or, to go still farther, that they are not requirements particularly valu- able precisely at such time. Truth, how ever, compels the reluctant admission that slight-built, delicate women who never mounted horse or pulled oar often pass through the critical hour with less difficulty than others more robust-lawn tennis girls who possess muscular vigor many times greater than that of their apparently fragile sister, and whose longtime habit it has been both to ride and to TOW. Science dares not leave this pressing and puzzling question unanswered; common humanity demands the removal of difficulty threatening such serious and far-reach1ng consequences. It is not to be disputed that if we parents, through lack of knowledge, are laying the foundation of distress sure to come to our daughters-if in the possibly near future they are to suffer serious consequences from our ignorance, we cannot too soon be informed of the fact and of our past lamentable mismanagement. There should be no delay in making the truth known throughout ths land like the Papal bull, let it be proclaimed urbi ct orbi. The same bodily exercise that proved real
 
 necessarily if not equally healthful for our daughters. We have gladly seen worsteds obliged to give place to tennis rackets; oars have desirably replaced amusement needles; long, climbing walks with cheerful inyigora- tion are wisely preferred to lazy drives be- hind fat ponies; even late-hour dances in- tentionally given in daylight are shorn of some evident objections and become whole some. Generally speaking, the laws of health have received intelligent study, are better understood and are more carefully ebeyed, and yet if we listen to eroakings of the med ical man all this is in vain so far as woman is concerned. Of late years parents have been pleased to see sisters share some of the outdoor sports of their brothers. They have also been delighted to watch the young women take on brown-a hearty, becoming, attractive brown-to notice eyes grow bright, clear and merry, and lips bloom with color only given by strong and quick bounding blood. Thus brown and winsome and rosy, with solid shoulders and elastic step, can any sensible girl fail to recognize these health given charms or be willing to exchange her condition or her colors for the fabby figure and bleached- out complexion that with fever-tlnted lips and languid step were at one time consid- cred to be form both correct and desirable! Croquet may be said to have unlocked the drawing room doors and to have done much toward making general the habit of
 
 and with indifference to previous and long time tyranny of gloves, complexions and umbrellas Later came lawn-tennis, which, with other wholesome pastlmes, flung wide open these same doors and provided a skill exciting amusement equally refreshing and acceptable to both sexes and to all ages. Pa rents and children alike congratulated them selves upon possessing stirring recreation singularly pleasing and entirely harmless. Professional men of all kinds apparently en- joy s1ove two" as much as their youngers, and with complacent enjoyment delightful to see wear non-professional costumes gay with spots and stripes that would be considered gay in the circus ring. With racket in hand our girls also appear to excellent advantage Clad in easy fitting hues as bright as those of the professors, with each nerve well tuned for play and every limb active with uncon- scious grace, they beautify as well as bright en their surroundings, and as they lightly pass from court to court become eloquent advocates of open-air therapeutics for wo- man.
 Thus far on our play ground all has gone we'll; each player has been benefited, is sat isfed and grows enthusiastic; but such an entirely happy condition of affairs cannot be expected to continue; it is too good to last; disturbance comes from the medical man, who introduces-and if we were not uncom- fortsbly persuaded that he speaks out of the fullness of knowledge, we should say in- trudes upon us an unweicome statement. After the manner of his kind he ''wounds to heal," and insists that some of our favorite outdoor pastimes and exercises are not ad- visable for woman-that they develop cer- tain muscles unduly and undesirably, and that for this reason the act of maternity is accomplished with increased suffering and difficulty. and he would have it that the un- usual health and strength of the athletic mother is thus paradoxically turned against herself, so that these hardly earned aovanta- ges become hindrance rather than help in the hour of trial. The medical man need not be surprised if his announcement Of what we are now willing to admit as possible fact is received with displeasure, for such 8 reversal of cherished opinions cannot t take place without commotion. Nor vii! It be an easy matter to persuade the world that open-air exercises can injure woman while they benefit man, or that nature intended our sisters or our future wives to sit with folded hands and simper while listening to honeyed speeches from these same professors. A reply containing facts and figures will be received with lively interest from the medical man, but his task will certainly not